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LOUDON, N.H. -- Alex Bowman gained a lot of new fans this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- but he may have earned an on-track enemy, as well.
Bowman, the 23-year-old tapped to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. (concussion-like symptoms) in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), got into an on-track incident with full-time XFINITY Series driver Ty Dillon shortly before the midway point in Saturday's NASCAR XFINITY Series Auto Lotto 200 race.
The No. 88 JR Motorsports driver appeared to clip the right rear of Dillon's No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the straightaway, sending the title hopeful into the outside wall and out of race contention.
Bowman indicated over his team radio that it was not intentional and that his Camaro was battling tight handling, but Dillon wasn't buying it.
"Just watching the replay, he wrecked me on purpose," Dillon said in the garage as his No. 3 crew worked to repair his ride. " ... You can ask everybody that was around the 88 today. I'm sure after the race they'll say that he was the toughest one to pass for whatever reason.
" ... He felt like he needed to turn me down the straightaway. Obviously I'm not very happy. I'll just try and be the cooler head right now because I'm glad he's still out there on the track and not here (in the garage) with me."
Bowman maintained after the race that while he "wasn't really thrilled with how (Dillon) drove (him) prior to the wreck" that "it wasn't, by any means, intentional," but he'll probably wait a bit to offer a face-to-face apology to Dillon.
"I'll talk to him, probably let him cool down a little bit," said Bowman, set for his first Sprint Cup Series start of the season on Sunday. "Kid tried to wreck me like four times but he couldn't get it done after that. Probably let him calm down without it turning into just him yelling at me. That's probably what he's going to do. That's probably what I'd do, too. I'd be upset, too. He has every right to be upset.
" ... He'll get over it someday."
Dillon was able to get back out on the track after the midway mark, but came out more than 50 laps off the pace. He finished 33rd.
The championship hopeful came into the race 19 points behind leader Daniel Suarez, in third place. That gap widened to 48 points, just six ahead of second-place finisher Erik Jones .
"Pretty upset right now. It's not how you race," Dillon said. "You don't turn me when we're going down the straightaway. I don't know what to say, because I don't have anything good to say, except for I'm glad he's not around right now.
"Seemed like (his car) turned pretty good down the straightaway when I was passed him, so maybe he needs to figure out what loose and tight mean. Maybe I can explain it to him."
Bowman, the 23-year-old tapped to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. (concussion-like symptoms) in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), got into an on-track incident with full-time XFINITY Series driver Ty Dillon shortly before the midway point in Saturday's NASCAR XFINITY Series Auto Lotto 200 race.
The No. 88 JR Motorsports driver appeared to clip the right rear of Dillon's No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the straightaway, sending the title hopeful into the outside wall and out of race contention.
Bowman indicated over his team radio that it was not intentional and that his Camaro was battling tight handling, but Dillon wasn't buying it.
"Just watching the replay, he wrecked me on purpose," Dillon said in the garage as his No. 3 crew worked to repair his ride. " ... You can ask everybody that was around the 88 today. I'm sure after the race they'll say that he was the toughest one to pass for whatever reason.
" ... He felt like he needed to turn me down the straightaway. Obviously I'm not very happy. I'll just try and be the cooler head right now because I'm glad he's still out there on the track and not here (in the garage) with me."
Bowman maintained after the race that while he "wasn't really thrilled with how (Dillon) drove (him) prior to the wreck" that "it wasn't, by any means, intentional," but he'll probably wait a bit to offer a face-to-face apology to Dillon.
"I'll talk to him, probably let him cool down a little bit," said Bowman, set for his first Sprint Cup Series start of the season on Sunday. "Kid tried to wreck me like four times but he couldn't get it done after that. Probably let him calm down without it turning into just him yelling at me. That's probably what he's going to do. That's probably what I'd do, too. I'd be upset, too. He has every right to be upset.
" ... He'll get over it someday."
Dillon was able to get back out on the track after the midway mark, but came out more than 50 laps off the pace. He finished 33rd.
The championship hopeful came into the race 19 points behind leader Daniel Suarez, in third place. That gap widened to 48 points, just six ahead of second-place finisher Erik Jones .
"Pretty upset right now. It's not how you race," Dillon said. "You don't turn me when we're going down the straightaway. I don't know what to say, because I don't have anything good to say, except for I'm glad he's not around right now.
"Seemed like (his car) turned pretty good down the straightaway when I was passed him, so maybe he needs to figure out what loose and tight mean. Maybe I can explain it to him."
